A coffee with Juan Carlos Maroto, Co-founder and CMO, Curius AG

Empack: Juan Carlos, to start with, could you tell us a bit about your career and what your day-to-day life is like at the moment?

I have been fortunate enough to have a career in the drinks industry where I have worked across practically every category, from launching the first RTD in Spain – through a great school of
marketing and business such as Red Bull and Corona – where we transformed a brand deeply rooted in Mexican clichés into a lifestyle brand – to launching the first importer specialising in super and ultra-premium luxury waters and spirits, right through to launching our own brand, Gin Mare, which in just a few years became the leader in the premium gin segment before being sold to Brown-Forman – and before launching my own project, I was able to rebrand a historic brand such as Ron Matusalem with a new strategic approach to branding, marketing and positioning. Since 2022, I have been fully committed to CURIUS, where we launched the most innovative concept in the mixers segment with MATCH, which has been very well received in over 35 markets and has won numerous awards.

Empack: “In your experience, what role does packaging currently play within a brand’s strategy, and which aspects do you think have become more important in recent years?”

Strategy is the backbone of everything that underpins your value proposition, your differentiation and how you can build a brand that has the potential to become a ‘love brand’ for the consumer; to achieve this, it must resonate beyond the moment of consumption and have clearly defined pillars so that, ideally, only your brand can capitalise on them. You must be obsessed with ensuring that every touchpoint with the brand carries that profound meaning, avoiding becoming ‘just another brand’ – however much it may serve as a tactical lever within a specific channel. That level of self-imposed rigour is the best strategic fuel to ensure the brand always operates within the framework of those pillars, where relevance is always ‘ON’.

Empack: This year, too, we’re looking forward to seeing you at the Empack Madrid Conference. Based on your experience, what value do you think events like Empack bring in terms of sharing knowledge and tackling the challenges facing the sector?

I firmly believe that these events give us the opportunity to continue learning and seeing how brands are built in other sectors and industries, how differentiation is achieved, and that there are many ‘best practices’ which, with a bit of thought, can be applied to your own industry without simply copying and pasting. It goes a step beyond networking, fostering genuine connections and potentially fruitful collaborations between us as brands and/or professionals.

Empack: Looking to the future, what do you think will be the main changes we’ll see in packaging over the next five or ten years? What role will innovation and sustainability play in that transformation?

Honestly, I think these changes are already happening; there’s no need to wait 5–10 years to see them, because if you keep an open mind, you’ll spot brands such as MATCH – a prime example – which takes a much more holistic approach to packaging than is currently the norm in the category. Since square packaging isn’t just designed to be different, but to maximise space efficiency on the shelf, a colour palette that moves away from the old concept of conveying ‘premium’ through gold and black to a burst of colour on the shelf with its pastel palette – which is also easier for shoppers to interpret – where sustainability and reusability are combined with inclusive initiatives and a range that offers a healthier perspective by including superfoods in every line.
Any brands that continue to view packaging as one-dimensional will be left behind; it must now be approached from a three-dimensional perspective that addresses key aspects of solving ‘pain points’ across the entire value chain, right through to the end consumer.

Empack: And to finish on a more personal note: if you could give some advice to your ‘self’ from ten years ago, bearing in mind all the changes and unforeseen events the sector has experienced since then, what would it be?

It would surely be to have more patience, and to recognise that any disruption takes time for the channel and the consumer to come to terms with. As a restless and innovative mind, I often find myself frustrated by the sector’s outdated paradigms; although it is said to be one of the most dynamic and innovative sectors, this is a huge lie, as we continue to accept as normal certain things that should be completely outdated.
We still encounter many barriers, from operations right through to the retail sector, where the argument is that ‘this is impossible because it’s always been done this way’, and there are few brave souls who see what you see and are willing to jump on board with total commitment. And that would undoubtedly be the second lesson: work with people who believe in you and add value; even if there are fewer of them, they should be true catalysts for your proposal for change, bringing about real impact.